Luis Roberto Romero

• Tropical Medicine PhD. Student
• PhD Student at University of Cartagena

Phylogenetic niche conservatism is a pattern in which closely related species are more similar than distant relatives in their niche‐related traits. Species in the family Psychodidae show notable diversity in climatic niche, and present an opportunity to test for phylogenetic niche conservatism, which is as yet rarely studied in insects. Some speci...

Sandflies of the family Psychodidae show notable diversity in both disease vector status and climatic niche. Some species (in the subfamily Phlebotominae) transmit Leishmania parasites, responsible for the disease leishmaniasis. Other Psychodidae species do not. Psychodid species ranges can be solely tropical, confined to the temperate zones, or sp...

Pintomyia evansi is recognized by its vectorial competence in the transmission of parasites that cause fatal visceral leishmaniasis in rural and urban environments of the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The effect on and the variation of the gut microbiota in female P. evansi infected with Leishmania infantum were evaluated under experimental conditio...

El reporte de triatominos infectados por Trypanosoma cruzi en un área silvestre del municipio de Colosó, hizo necesario determinar las especies de vectores en cercanía a las viviendas de la vereda Jorro, por ser el asentamiento rural próximo al hallazgo. En la presente nota, se informa por primera vez para el municipio la presencia de especies de t...

Identification of the species of phlebotomine sand flies present in each focus of leishmaniasis is necessary to incriminate vectors and implement vector control strategies. Although the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene has been proposed as a barcode for the identification of animal species, less than 20% of New World phlebotomines have been characte...

Identification of the bloodmeal sources of phlebotomine sand flies is fundamental to determining which species are anthropophilic and understanding the transmission of Leishmania parasites in natural epidemiological settings. The objective of this study was to identify sand fly bloodmeals in the mixed leishmaniasis focus of the department of Sucre,...

Among Colombia's Caribbean coast departments, Sucre has the greatest species diversity of phlebotomine sand flies (genus Lutzomyia), including several associated with the epidemiological cycles of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. Due to its public health importance, the phlebotomine fauna of Sucre must be monitored periodically. Sand flies wer...